
A Visit to Luca's Farm
Listen to story
May 28, 2026
Stories are AI-generated with editorial curation.

Listen to story
May 28, 2026
Stories are AI-generated with editorial curation.

In the narrowest street of the old town stood a bakery that never had more than one customer a day. Every morning, an elderly woman named Maria would knead the dough, braid a perfectly shaped bun, and place it in the window where the cat Loli often slept. Then she would sit and wait. The customer was always the same—an old man with a blue hat who would arrive exactly at 7:15, leave a coin, take the bun, and leave without a word. People thought Maria was crazy. 'Why doesn't she bake more? Why doesn't she sell to others? Her buns are the best in town!' But Maria would just wave her hand and say, 'I don't bake for everyone. I bake for the one who needs it.' One morning, the old man with the blue hat didn't come. 7:15. 7:30. 8:00. The bun sat on the window, cooling. For the first time in thirty years, Maria began to cry in her bakery. Then there was a knock at the door from someone she had never seen before...

Hana had a peculiar habit. Every time it rained, she would rush into the yard with an empty glass jar and collect rainwater. On the shelves of her room stood more than a hundred jars, each marked with a date and a small label. "Hana, why do you collect rain?" her classmates asked at school, giggling. "It's just water!" But Hana knew something the others did not. Her grandmother Maria, who lived on a village island, had taught her this before she passed away. She had shared with Hana just one sentence — a sentence Hana never repeated to anyone. One day, the worst drought in fifty years struck the town. Parks turned yellow, fountains ran dry, and people waited in long lines for water. That evening, Hana sat on the floor of her room, surrounded by jars, and for the first time opened the oldest one — the jar she had filled with her grandmother on the last day they spent together. When she opened the lid, she caught a scent that stopped her in her tracks...

In the basement of an old building in the square, there was a library that wasn't on any map. It had no sign, no opening hours, and the doors opened only for some. Hana stumbled upon it by chance, escaping the rain. She descended the wet steps, pushed the heavy wooden door, and entered a room filled with books from floor to ceiling. It smelled of old paper, wood, and something sweet—like honey mixed with dust. At the table sat Helena, Eva's sister, wearing a smile that promised adventures. Loli, the family cat, curled up on a shelf, watching Hana with her green eyes. "Go ahead, but don't choose," Helena said, without lifting her gaze from the book in her hands. "What?" Hana was puzzled. "In this library, you don't choose books. Books choose you."

Maja stood beneath the stars, sketching their sparkle in her notebook, while Pino wrestled with his fear. Gabriel led them deeper into the forest, where the noises grew more mysterious and unfamiliar. Suddenly, a strange sound filled the air, stopping Pino in his tracks.